Troubled Teens Resources

Teen crisis intervention directed at the scourge of underage drinking is an ongoing campaign for parents, schools and communities. What is undeniable, though parents do not quite grasp this, is the power of parental communication.

Believe it or not, your kids are listening to you. And they are watching you. So, if you are warning them about the dangers of alcohol and drugs, yet drink and medicate yourself, you might have a problem. If you aren’t meeting your teen’s friends, communicating with their parents, or making your rules crystal clear, you might have a problem. The parent who also tries to be their teenager’s friend, will fail at both. Teens want parents.

“Parents’ ability to influence whether their children drink is well documented and is consistent across racial and ethnic groups.Verbally expressing their disapproval of drinking, setting clear rules against drinking, consistently enforcing those rules and monitoring your child’s behavior all help to reduce the likelihood of underage drinking.”

See how you do on the following test, linked below.

• Tell your child that you disapprove of underage drinking?
• Monitor teens while they are in your home?
• Talk to your teen daily?
• Set a curfew and consistently enforce house rules?
• Inquire of another parent about a gathering or party to verify safe situations and supervised homes?
• Welcome telephone calls at your home verifying supervision of gatherings at your own home?
• Check levels of open alcohol beverages in your home?
• Attempt to meet your child’s friends and their parents as their environment changes?
• Call authorities or other parents to report unsafe situations, parties or gatherings?
• Help your child figure out how to handle risky situations with a plan of action?

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Some school districts are dead serious about teen crisis intervention in the area of teen alcohol consumption. Police are tired of scraping bodies off the road and parents are fed up coming home to trashed homes where unauthorized teen parties have spun out of control.

“Recent suburban drinking parties attracted 70 teens on Grand Island, another 34 in Evans and 22 in Clarence. Eight students in Sloan showed up drunk at a homecoming dance.

Those four incidents all occurred over two weekends.

Once again, alarm bells are ringing across the region about the prevalence of underage drinking.

The alarm has sounded many times over the years, but now the public is starting to learn what educators and advocates for alcohol treatment have been shouting for years:

Teen drinking, always a serious problem, is getting worse.

“They’re drinking younger, they’re drinking more, and they’re drinking for the purpose of getting drunk…”

Schools have formulated a three-pronged plan. All athletes sign a contract agreeing to a code of conduct. Many school districts never enforce the agreements. This school did - over 3 dozen athletes will not finish their season.

“I think the bottom line from youngsters who watch the situation is ‘Oh my gosh, they’re serious. The school district does what they say they’re going to do…”
(source)

They are demanding compliance from parents, even going so far as to mandate that they attend an alcohol-ed class if they want their teenager to be granted permission to attend dances and proms.

Last, help and or therapy is sought for troubled teens found to have an alcohol or drug problem.

Sometimes parents don’t know where to turn. Teen age drug abuse, binge drinking, steroids, violence, internet addiction. Raising teenagers anymore is like going to war. And now some towns and school districts are taking the war directly to the parents, demanding that they do their part.

“Underage drinking is not new, but school districts seem to be talking about it more, while enforcing tough policies that often require year-round compliance. Still, the parties continue.
[…]
The Lake Shore School District last year started requiring parents to attend a mandatory session on drug and alcohol awareness before their children can attend school dances.

“They all go in with a little angst, as in ‘Why do I have to be here?’…“They come away with a tremendous amount of knowledge and the understanding of how important it is to fight this.”

And for a good many student athletes in this Buffalo community, the season is over. It sounds like the schools and police have a great deal more educating to do before teens at risk are going to get the message.

“More than three dozen high school students — most of them athletes — are serving suspensions this week for drinking alcohol during parties in at least three different incidents in Erie County last weekend.

On Grand Island, a birthday party last Saturday got out of hand, attracting at least 70 teenagers.

The same night, 34 underage drinkers were at a house party in Evans.

And in Sloan, eight students showed up drunk to the homecoming dance.

School administrators spent the week interviewing students, talking to parents, and meting out the punishment required by codes of conduct. For some of the athletes, the sports season is over.”
(source)

Teen crisis intervention begins at home. It begins with committed and aware parents willing to be “proactive instead of reactive” in their teenagers’ lives. It is becoming clear that too many parents either give tacit consent to their teen’s drug or alcohol experimentation, or simply take too few measures to monitor their teen’s activities.

Unfortunately, it is often too late when responsible parents discover that their teen’s friends are parented by irresponsible parents.

A new program for troubled teens designed to unite the efforts of committed parents is being launched in a small community in Maine. Teens at risk are, unfortunately, being regarded as “at risk” at younger and younger ages.

“The community has to do a better job of reaching these kids when they’re young. That’s why Phipps is rolling out a new program called SafeHomes, designed to begin the drug and alcohol conversation between middle school students and their parents.

Parents sign the SafeHomes pledge, agreeing that they will not permit their child to hold underage drinking parties nor will they provide alcohol to minors. In addition, they agree that their name, phone number and address can be printed in a community directory of safe homes — hence the program’s name. If anyone in the SafeHomes community sees your child drinking or holding such a party, they agree to give you a call and let you know. You’re expected to do the same.
[…]
She said the new program gives parents an opportunity to “set guidelines and expectations early on. It allows parents to be proactive instead of reactive.”

(source)

Troubled teenagers who indulge in binge drinking or teen age drug abuse have given many communities incentive to implement teen crisis intervention measures in order to stop the carnage. Communities who are tired of waking up to headlines listing the latest teen fatalities from drunk driving or drug overdoses.

Being proactive in their community is an uncomfortable role for many parents. And while it is certainly not true that it takes a village to raise a child, it helps if each parent is responsible and vigilant for their own.

That’s why programs like the one in Hinsdale are becoming more prevalent. Parents are being provided a hot line to report drunken teens and adults who allow underage drinking in their home. They also can turn in their teen’s contraband drugs. It may be a small effort, but then, that is how the war is won - one battle at a time.

“On Tuesday, the [Hinsdale]chiefs talked about expanding…Operation STAAT… to get to the root of underage drinking early.
[…]
Neighbors who suspect a teen party can anonymously call a hot line and are encouraged to record license plates of vehicles parked in the vicinity. The program also calls for community service for offenders.
[…]
STAAT offers help for parents who suspect their teenagers have been drinking. Police officers will be dispatched to a home to administer a preliminary breath test. If the teenager fails, a juvenile officer will meet with the youth and set up community service hours. If parents say the teenager continues to drink, he or she can be charged with underage drinking.”

(Source)

Alcohol was the drug of choice for Nicole’s young son. She wasn’t ware of it until it was almost too late. Typical of a single mother, her she worked two jobs and trusted the family babysitter. Unfortunately, the trust was misplaced. She discovered that most of the alcohol was consumed under her watch.

Nicole’s family was alarmed when her course of action was to enroll her son in a military boarding school. But Nicole was determined.Alcohol had ruined her marriage and her parent’s marriage and she was not going to allow her son to fall in the same trap. He was given a choice between a school for troubled teens with an emphasis on sports or a military school. Military school won out and it has turned out to be the solution her son needed.

She is to be commended for her responsible actions. Recent news items indicate that, unfortunately, many parents of teens at risk are not.

“We have an underage drinking epidemic on our hands because of the parents who condone it, the retailers who enable it and the children who participate in it,” said Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose, head of a countywide task force on underage drinking. “It is a problem that involves all of society, and will require all of society to remedy.”

Deerfield Police Chief John Sliozis, whose community was stung by the deaths of Daniel Bell and Ross Trace, said parents must realize that it’s never safe for teens to drink.

“Some people have always believed that if the kids were drinking under their so-called supervision, it was not really a problem,” Sliozis said. “As acceptable as that myth may have been 20 or 30 years ago, I believe there is no way to deny that teens are far too mobile these days for anyone to subscribe to it.”

(Source)

Deerfield is the community where two parents were convicted for allowing underage drinking in their home, pleading ignorance. Their ignorance cost two teens their lives.

Teen crisis intervention in the areas of alcohol abuse sometimes seems to make little progress.

“The “fight” against teen alcohol abuse is a joke in this region. And every teen knows it.

They can get booze whenever they want. They can party all they want. And if they get caught, sure there will be a court summons and a bit of adult handwringing and lecturing about it, but mom and dad will fix it. No need to worry. They’ll accuse the authorities of wanting to destroy a kid’s future by putting a blot on his or her record, and the authorities will back down. Maybe a fine, but nothing worse than that.”

Unfortunately, the lack of progress in some communities can be directly attributed to parents who are indifferent to teenage drinking or actively supply the alcohol.

“And the answer to that lies in police logs around the region. It lies with parents who blame the cops, the schools, the newspapers - anybody but themselves and their children - for a teen drinking epidemic. They are asking for more than trouble. They are asking for tragedy.”

The writer goes on to quote from the police log which records one under age drinking party after another, many all to often presided over by an adult.

“In February, Salisbury police arrest 14 teens from Newburyport, Haverhill and elsewhere on the North Shore, after a celebration of a victory by the Bishop Fenwick High School swim team gets out of hand. The homeowner is on vacation at the time - his 22-year-old son is host of the party.

In March, Hamilton police charge a 39-year-old woman with hosting an underage drinking party for 20 kids, ranging in age from 14 to 20.”

(Source)

Teens at risk do not need any additional help from immature and irresponsible adults. But it seems role models and leadership are, too often, sadly lacking.

Teen help does not mean supervising your teenagers’ “kegger”. Teen help does not mean collecting all the car keys at your kid’s pool party and then going inside to settle in for a movie. What should be patently obvious is apparently a point of contention in the ongoing battle to prevent teens at risk from drinking.

Many parents feel that allowing their teens access to alcohol under controlled conditions will teach them responsibility. However, the prevalent word from the experts is that is just a comforting, but spurious notion.

“In many cases parents do this under the false assumption that they are protecting their kids. They make the assumption that they won’t drink elsewhere and that’s not true,” says Robert Lindsey, director of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

In addition to drunken-driving accidents that too often end tragically, teen-drinking parties can spawn sexual assaults, stabbings, brawling and neighborhood vandalism. “We all know we’re fooling ourselves if we think underage drinking is fine,” says Stacy Saetta, a legal policy researcher at the Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy in Felton, Calif. “Simply to say it’s a rite of passage isn’t good enough.” Even when parents think they are doing the right thing by gathering car keys of partiers, “kids still get away and still drive drunk,” she said. “These parties are very, very dangerous.”

(source)
(via Save Our Youth)

Teen crisis intervention programs developed across the nation represent millions of dollars and man hours dedicated to diverting teens from the often fatal consequences of underage drinking. Parents who fail to see the immensity of the problem are failing their teenagers first and foremost.

Teen crisis intervention programs are typically spearheaded by community groups who want more safeguards and effective solutions in place when dealing with out of control teens. Some very innovative programs have sprung up across the country by groups of parents who have become alarmed over the prevalence of teen drinking and drug abuse.

In the past, such programs have primarily targeted teens. Unfortunately the laxity of many parents around teen drinking have caused some communities to create laws that hold parents as accountable as their teens if a drinking party goes South. Such as this ordinance recently introduced in a California town that targeted parents who host underage drinking.

“The city is revising its “unruly party” ordinance to make it easier to crack down on teenage drinking — including a provision that changes the definition of a party from five underage revelers to two. The new ordinance will eliminate the current $1,000 cap on the amount the city can recover from party hosts — or their parents — when police respond to gatherings.”

The changes in the ordinance were due to a letter sent out by a parents that described the vandalism and excessive drinking that occurred at an unauthorized party held in their home.

“Local high school parents responded by forming healthy choices committees that promised to work with the schools and community to cut down on teen drinking and drug use and come up with alternative activities for teenagers.”
(Source)

As a parent, you have more power in your community than you may realize. Be pro-active in teen crisis intervention in your neighborhood, It can be as simple as circulating a letter and approaching your local officials for support.

“At age 16, Caitie C. was pulled over by the Laguna Beach Police and spent a night in jail as a result of her first DWI (driving while intoxicated). “I pulled into a little market to use the pay phone, and there were cops sitting in the parking lot as I drove my car into a pole,” she said. “They did a Breathalyzer and took me in, handcuffed.”

You have to ask why we even allow 16 year old teens to have a car and cell phones and all the other luxuries unless they have exhibited maturity commensurate with the priveleges that they are granted. But teens have come to view these coveted possessions as rights and parents have bought in.

Caitie began drinking began when she was 14. The article also describes Alexis who began drinking when she was 12 and quickly accelerated to a meth addiction that required a complicated intervention. What both girls seemed to have in common was the usual combination of too much time and money and too little interaction with parents.

Teen age drug abuse does not happen in a vacuum. For parents to not recognize aberrant behavior in teens so young suggests a significant family melt down. The article describes it as “alienation”.

“Underage drinking often starts with alienation at home,” according to Wayne Rothwell… He says a sense of isolation sets in and a breakdown of communication develops between the parent and the child.
[..]”Drugs and alcohol are easily available and a way for them to escape from uncomfortable feelings.”
(Source)

It used to be teenagers turned to their parents when struggling with “uncomfortable feelings.” Years ago there was an ad campaign that asked parents “It’s midnight. Do you know where your kids are?” Now it is the kids who are wondering where their parents are. And some just give up looking for them.